Looking to return to the postseason, the Oakdale High School boys tennis team began Valley Oak League play last week. The Mustangs hosted East Union and traveled to take on Kimball to open up the season. Oakdale defeated both the Lancers and Jaguars to begin the season with a 2-0 VOL mark.

On Tuesday, March 3 the regular season began with East Union coming to town. Oakdale won the season opener 9-0 over the Lancers. No matches went to more than two sets. In singles action Liam Peters defeated Matthew Trinidad 6-4, 6-2. Caleb Poling defeated Kelton DeSouza 6-1, 6-1. Frankie Dutra defeated Daniel Ngo 6-0, 6-0 in dominant fashion. Zach Nielson defeated Matthew Mendoza 6-2, 6-0. Much like Dutra, Jimmy Homer did not allow a point as he won 6-0, 6-0 over Tristan Santos. Max Moore, normally a doubles competitor, filled in for a sick Mark Chavez as the sixth singles competitor. In his singles debut Moore won 6-0, 6-1 over Fernando Duran.

“He (Moore) is one of our best doubles players, and he really stepped it up today as the swingman with Chavez out sick,” said Mustangs coach Grant Miller.

In doubles action Teo Diaz and Aiden Rodrigues defeated Bradley Phippen and Joe Gonzalez 6-0, 6-0. Hayden Hill and Jackson Healy won via forfeit. Alex Tangle and Ethan Dingu also won via forfeit.

On Thursday, March 5 the boys headed to Tracy to face Kimball. When it was all over, Oakdale returned home with a 7-2 win. The first two singles competitors fell to Kimball. Lance Le defeated Peters 6-4, 6-3. Robert Dunhouse defeated Poling in a battle that resulted in 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 final. The Mustangs did not give up, though, and rattled off seven straight wins to take the match. Dutra defeated Giovanni Stagnaro 6-1, 6-1. Nielson defeated Connor Galles won 6-0, 6-1. Mark Chavez returned to the court from his illness and won his season debut 6-4, 6-3 over Luke Ninh. Homer won his match 6-0, 6-2 over Walter Gertsenberger to wrap up the singles portion of the day. In doubles Oakdale went 3-0. Diaz and Rodrigues defeated Soam Desai and Ahmed Shakil 6-0, 6-1. Chris Frye and Max Moore won their match over Rich Acumen and Kaleb Payba 6-1, 7-6 (7-2). Hill and Healy defeated Kyle Dequit and Patrick Overen 6-0, 6-1.

Wednesday, March 11 the boys travel to take on Manteca and Thursday, March 12 the boys will take on Sierra on the road. Both the contests are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.